diff --git a/proc/sysinfo.c b/proc/sysinfo.c
index a863020d..311696e6 100644
--- a/proc/sysinfo.c
+++ b/proc/sysinfo.c
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ PROCPS_EXPORT int procps_loadavg(
 {
     double avg_1=0, avg_5=0, avg_15=0;
     locale_t tmplocale;
-    int retval;
+    int retval=0;
     FILE *fp;
 
     if ((fp = fopen(LOADAVG_FILE, "r")) == NULL)